I've been focusing recently on weight and health. Haven't really been talking about it much for a few reasons (except on the Geeking After Dark podcast...) but the biggest recent development was the acquisition of recumbent trikes.
It had been quite an adventure in itself (dear Customs and Border Protection: eff you) but my son and I finally got our modified First Avenue trikes!
At first we primarily rode in our driveway; we made 6 circuits the first day, then 5 the next. It was our basic shakedown, learning the handling on the trikes and getting a feel for the brakes and seating. We also needed to build familiarity with the shifting, because our trikes are equipped with Nuvinci hubs instead of relying on derailleurs for changing distinct gears.
(By the say, the Nuvinci hubs are utterly amazing...expensive, but amazing.)
There was a lull in riding because Little Dude had a friend over for a few days, and after that, weather decided it didn't want to cooperate. But the weekend rolled up, the rain broke, and we were determined to try riding on the road!
We broke down the trikes; in order to rack them, the seats, trunk bags and accessories have to be removed. Once the trikes were secured to the car rack, we got the equipment fit into the back seat of the car and filled our insulated water bottles (flavored with tablets that add caffeine, vitamins, and some refreshing...somethings...to keep you from feeling like you want to pass out while exercising) before trekking to a valley area about half an hour from our home.
The area we rode is near my childhood home; I was relatively familiar with the area due to working at a historic site and attending the church in that valley area. Other than those two things the area is populated by farmers and was mostly a closed, paved loop.
The closed circuit path meant that it was mostly local traffic, but it was decently paved as a two-lane road (without a center line, though; it was kind of narrow in places, but I figured the sparse traffic would make this a nice introduction to road riding.)
In my head I picture the path as an elongated 2-dimensional Pokeball; the top half is a higher elevation, and the middle of the circuit is bisected by a packed dirt/gravel road, which would have cut the travel in half and avoided having to climb the hill to the upper part of the road circuit.
I had forgotten about that bisecting road; my father reminded us about it when asking about our route. I have been exercising a little using a pedaling machine under my desk (not a perfect simulation of a recumbent bike, but better than nothing) for several months as well as some basic workout routines from a fitness specialist. My son hasn't been working out; aside from our rounds on the driveway (which, to be fair, is about 600 feet long and rises a little under 20 feet from entrance to parking flat) riding the recumbent on the road was kind of cold turkey exercise for him.
We de-racked the trikes and re-equipped them, mounting the trunk bags, water bottles and seats. We sat down, adjusted mirrors, and I explained the proposed route along with reiterating my warnings about watching for traffic and staying to the right (I was perpetually anxious about our road riding since he is not experienced with driving, let alone traveling on the road.)
"Little Dude, we have two options. The first is the one I was first thinking of...it's paved, but it's longer, and there's a big hill climb to deal with. The other is the one Grandpa mentioned; it's a packed gravel road that cuts travel in half and avoids the hill, but it's going to be bumpy. Which one should we take?"
He thought about it for a moment and said, "We'll take the long way."
I was so proud of him!
"Okay. Ready?...let's go!"
I launched Strava, an app on my iPhone for tracking our exercise stats, and we started our ride. The first part was relatively flat; some small inclines, but nothing we couldn't really handle. Little Dude was slower due to not having worked out and developed the leg muscles needed for the leg presses that pedaling recumbent trikes model. I did get ahead of him at times, but I kept an eye on the mirror and if he started to fall pretty far behind I'd pull off and wait for him to catch up.
We did pass some family friends who were out for a walk with their dog. I didn't know they even had this dog...I told my parents that I didn't realized they had a pet bear, because this thing is the size of a polar bear cub. I mean, it's HUGE. And fluffy. It was a giant white furball the size of a dwarf horse, and it was at least as tall as my head was positioned on the recumbent trike.
"Oh, that's Rufus," my parents said.
"Rufus. They named this bear-sized dog Rufus." I had trouble wrapping my head around the juxtaposition of a pet named Rufus that looked big enough to pull a sled of kids.
We said hello as we rolled by them and the dog just sort of gazed quizzically at the two overweight riders on the weird tadpole machines; I was thankful it didn't decide we were invading its space and attack or bark, as I was certain the force of the bark might blow us into the corn field.
At one of the pause points, I pointed out that we were approaching the hill.
"Last chance. We can turn here and take the halfway road, or we continue up that," I said as I gestured towards the visible escalation in pavement.
Little Dude rested a few minutes, took a swig of water and said he was ready to go up the hill.
Oh gawd...the hill was tougher than I thought. I had to stop a few times on the incline, as my muscles would hit the point of failure. If I was hitting that, I knew Little Dude was having it harder than I was. I could see in my mirror that he was stopping along the road, but after a few minutes, I'd again see his feet pumping the pedals as he made progress forward again.
We paused several times. I didn't mind; I was amazed Little Dude, who was not accustomed to this kind of physical work, was still soldiering on. Forward progress was forward progress!
He caught up to me. I pointed at the house in front of us where the road sharply curved into the grove of trees; "We're not far now. Once we hit that curve, we not only have shade, but the road doesn't keep climbing like this."
He didn't really seem to believe me, but at this point we didn't have much choice but to continue on. "Ready?"
We kicked forward again. Eventually we took the curve and stopped in a driveway where we didn't have to worry about traffic and could enjoy the slight breeze.
Little dude was red in the face and had rivulets of sweat dropping from his head and darkening his shirt. "I can't feel my legs, Dad," he said.
"You mean they feel like something is wrong, or they're tired?"
"I think they're just tired."
Dude is sensitive to dehydration, and it was hot today. He was drinking from his water bottle but I knew that it would be running low by now. We rested a bit in the shade, hands laced behind our heads to allow our lungs to expand wider and take in more oxygen, before I asked him if he was feeling better.
"I just need a minute or two," he said.
"Do you want to call it quits," I said. I figured I could run ahead and get the car, pack up my trike and return for him. He was looking really tired and I was a little concerned about how red his skin had become.
Again he thought a moment before replying, "I'm not going to quit, Dad!"
I can't really describe the pride I felt, seeing him push through his aches and sore legs to keep moving forward on his first real ride on the trike. "I'm not going to quit." He was not taking the easy way out!
"Okay. We'll keep going. Tell me when you're ready!"
We had made it up the steepest, longest part of the ride. We had a relatively flat ride before hitting the downward portion of the trip; our bike computers registered a top speed of a little over 28 miles per hour (or, as he put it, "THAT WAS AWESOME!") At the peak speed, we zipped by an older couple sitting on their porch. If Rufus thought we were strange, I couldn't imagine what this couple thought of the two overweight guys on these weirdly configured wheeled lawn chairs were doing as the tires hummed along the pavement and the pilots whooped with glee at the air whipping through our hair.
We pulled off the road and stopped next to the car. Despite feeling pretty good, standing up proved to be a challenge, as my blood pressure felt like it was dropping dramatically as I stood upright for the first time in over an hour. Little Dude asked for a few minutes before having to peel himself out of his seat and disassemble the trike for racking.
I slowly released the pins and quick releases on my trike that held the seat to the frame, disconnected accessories and bags, then steeled myself to get the trike lifted onto the rack. "Take your time, Dude," I said. "You have a lot to be proud of."
I had packed protein bars for us with the intention of stopping at a picnic area on the path to rest, but as our water ran low and there was a threat of impending rain, I nixed the idea. Little Dude had scooped up an empty Red Bull can with the intention of giving it to his Grandfather for recycling and deposit redemption; their house was on the way home, so I figured we'd stop, get more water and have our protein bars while visiting.
Strava said we spent 42 minutes of actual travel time (it pauses automatically if GPS doesn't show us moving) and had climbed 263 feet over a trip of 4.28 miles. I don't think that was bad at all for a first trip out!
We've started learning a few things about the trip. We remembered to mount the blinking red lights to increase our visibility...but forgot to turn them on (halfway through the trip I activated them.) We also brought helmets, but forgot to actually wear them, which didn't matter quite as much since trikes are a little harder to tip over and state law didn't require the helmets for people our age. If there were more traffic, I'd have turned around to grab them. As the situation was...I let it go, figuring we might feel a little cooler with a breeze as the sun was beating down rather hard for the first legs of the journey.
I think we also need to have more water-carrying capability. Next time we're in the shop, I think I'll ask them to install an additional water bottle cage on each trike and we'll go shopping for another insulated bottle. In the meantime I ordered a set of pannier bags for my trike so I'll have increased cargo capability, then I'll see if I can find something that can hold water without fear of spillage in the panniers.
The weather has once again decided to work against us...we've had days of rain, complete with a constant flash flood watch culminating now into a flash flood warning...so we haven't been out riding again. But we do plan to head out again this weekend. The weather is predicted to break and I've been scoping out a possible bike path to try an hour away. Little Dude is looking forward to the next ride, and I have to admit that I'm more than a little anxious to hit the pavement again as well.
I recounted our trip to my wife, and we were both extremely proud of Little Dude and how hard he worked to keep going. He felt bad about the slower pace of the trip, feeling that he was holding us back...but I told him, truthfully, that there was no reason to feel bad. He was working on developing the leg muscles, he wasn't used to riding, and we both had work to do to get more proficient in riding. I had no problem with our pace...the important thing was we did it, and we pushed on. He didn't take the easy road or cut corners.
And more than that, he was still looking forward to the next ride! For now, we're keeping an eye on the forecasts and will have the trikes ready to rack. Allons-y!
